LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “…‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’…” (Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, in Matthew 22:37-39, the Holy Bible).

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BLAME PNOY’S OFFICIALS, NOT ME—PURISIMA: If a press statement from the lawyer of former Police Director General Alan Purisima being circulated in social networking sites is authentic, there seems to be a new twist on the Mamasapano massacre which may yet enable the truth on the killing of 44 officers and men of the Special Action Force to come out, and thereby determine who should really be held liable for the carnage.

A careful reading of this press statement purportedly coming from lawyer Kristoffer James E. Purisima, the counsel of the beleaguered PNP chief, will show that General Purisima is in fact saying that he should not be blamed for the botched operation.

Rather, he is suggesting, in broad strokes and in more ways than one, that the blame for the death of the SAF commandos in Mamasapano should be laid on the top officials of President Aquino who were with him in Zamboanga City on January 25, 2015, and who should have informed him about what was happening in Mamasapano.

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PURISIMA SAYS HE WAS ALWAYS TRUTHFUL WITH PNOY: Here are portions of that press statement: “Police Director General Alan La Madrid Purisima did not lie to President Benigno S. Aquino III about the status of Operation Exodus in the morning of 25 January 2015. It is not in Purisima’s character to relay inaccurate information to the President.

“Throughout their decades of professional and personal relationship, Purisima’s deportment towards the President has been one of utmost candor, honesty, loyalty and respect. At no time would Purisima violate the trust reposed upon him by the President.

OFFICIALS SHOULD HAVE BRIEFED PNOY: “Thus, when Purisima informed the President at 8:17 AM on January 25 that the engaged PNP SAF troopers `are supported by mechanized and artillery support’, Purisima relied in good faith on the information given to him at 8:03 AM by Lieutenant General Guerrero, which stated that `[m]eron ng coordination sa ground tank infantry and artillery support are made available’.

“To Purisima, Guerrero’s reference to `[m]eron ng coordination sa ground’ implies more than just the availability of support; it refers to the coordinated efforts to use tank, infantry and artillery assets in support of our PNP SAF troopers. Purisima had no reason to believe or interpret otherwise, since the request for reinforcement for our SAF troopers has already been relayed by Purisima to Guerrero by telephone conversation as early as 6:09 AM.

“As he was in San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija, on January 25, Purisima could not have known that Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division chief, had declined the SAF’s request for even an indirect artillery fire. However, since Purisima was already preventively suspended and was not part of the PNP command line, it fell on those who were with the President on January 25 to brief the Chief Executive and provide vital information as they had direct contact with the ground commanders.”